I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hand operated animal calls, and, more particularly, to such a call which incorporates a vibrating housing with a vibrating reed therein. The vibrating reed housing is contained within a substantially air impervious pouch and an elongate tube is attached to an air outlet of the vibrating reed housing and protrudes out of an opening in the air pouch. The pouch is preferably filled with a porous, compressible fiber with an elastic memory. Manual squeezing of the air pouch compresses the fiber, forcing air from the pouch through the reed housing, thus vibrating the reed, the reed housing and the elongate tube, creating a sound resembling a buck's rutting sound. Release of the air pouch allows the fiber to rebound to its original shape, thus causing the pouch to expand and draw air back in through the elongate reed and reed housing.
II. Description of the Related Art
Deer hunting in recent years has become very popular as deer populations have increased greatly in most states. Traditionally, deer hunting season occurs during the fall rutting season for the animals since this is the time of year when they are most active and easiest to find. It is the goal of most deer hunters to bag a "trophy" buck, i.e. one with a large rack of antlers which can function as a trophy. During the rutting season, bucks employ various mating calls to attract interested does and warning sounds to establish their territory. These are known as rutting sounds. Does also, to a lesser degree, use mating calls, which are somewhat higher pitched than those of rutting bucks. In an effort to attract bucks to their position, hunters have long employed "calls" which make sounds mimicking the rutting sounds of bucks and/or mating calls of does. Typically these have been mouth calls which require a hunter to place the intake end of a mouthpiece against their lips and blow through a vibrating reed device positioned therein. Often an exhaust end of the mouthpiece is attached to an elongate tube which acts as a damper, modifying the sound from the mouthpiece in an attempt to resemble a deer's rutting sound. Typically the vibrating reed will be somewhat longer (i.e. a lower frequency vibrator) for a buck call and somewhat shorter (higher frequency) for a doe call. Some calls are designed such that the effective vibrating length of the reed can be modified by positioning elastic bands or the like at different points along the length of the reed to modify the output frequency so that a single call can be used for both bucks and does. Such a prior art mouth call is illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14 herein.
Although mouth calls can be very effective when used correctly, they have a number of shortcomings. Mouth calls take a certain amount of skill and experience to use properly since the user must blow the call with the correct amount of lung pressure for the correct length of time to create the desired sound and sound intensity. Typically these mouth calls are hung around the neck of a hunter via a sling, which can cause problems. If worn on the outside of a hunter's outer garment, the call will bounce around and cam become snagged on fences, underbrush, etc. If the call is worn under the outermost garment, access to it when needed becomes problematical. The fairly involved physical steps required to access the mouth call and bring it up to his lips can make the hunter visible to the quarry, often spooking the deer instead of attracting it. During extremely cold weather conditions, moisture in a hunter's breath can freeze inside the mouth call, thus changing the frequency of the call or preventing the reed from vibrating at all. Finally, use of a mouth call entirely occupies at least one of a hunter's hands, which means that, after use of the call, the hunter must drop the call, reach for, grab and lift their weapon into firing position, all without calling attention to their position.
It is clear then, that a need exists for a hand operated animal call. Such a call should be easy to use for a novice hunter, should be readily and quickly accessible when needed and should be economical, yet durable.